Antibodies and/or antibody-based agents are now therapeutic options for a wide variety of diseases and disorders. Currently there are at least 70 antibodies approved in the United States and/or European Union, with large numbers of new molecules in preclinical studies and clinical trials. However, there is a continual search for new, better, and safer therapeutic agents within the research and clinical communities.
A naturally occurring antibody is monospecific and binds to one epitope or antigen. Multispecific antibodies combine specificities of multiple antibodies and have the capability to bind different antigens or epitopes. Many technical hurdles, however, have hampered development of multispecific antibodies; as such, few multispecific antibodies have been approved as therapeutics. Thus, there is still a need for better multispecific antibodies and methods to efficiently produce functional and stable multispecific antibodies.